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Seeds of Revolution

Wednesday, April 24, 2013 - 7:00pm - 9:00pm

The Natural History Museum of Utah, Swaner Forum

Explore the history and evolution of Navajo trading with Steven Simpson. Simpson will discuss how historic posts operated in the context of a rapidly changing culture and the influence of Navajo traditions on trading and traders. Drawing on his experience at Twin Rocks Trading Post, he’ll compare contemporary trading with the historic model and examine how artistic movements were shaped by cross-cultural interactions between Anglo traders and Navajo artists, with a special focus on the involvement of Twin Rocks Trading Post in the contemporary Navajo basket revolution and the Twin Rocks Modern rug weaving style.

Along with his brothers Barry and Craig, Steven P. Simpson is a partner in Twin Rocks Trading Post, in Bluff, Utah. Steve and his wife Georgiana have raised their children, Dacia, Kira, and Grange, at the post and in the trading tradition. Since opening the gallery in 1989, the Simpson family has encouraged and supported Native artists of the greater Southwest. In doing so, they helped spark the Navajo Basket Revolution and nurtured and inspired new styles of rug weaving, basket making, silversmithing and folk carving. In 2012 the U.S. Small Business Administration named Twin Rocks Trading Post the Jeffrey Butland Family-Owned Business of the Year.